Second Chances
by Sweetroll349
Summary: It has been 21 years since a type of cordyceps fungus emerged and began infecting humans, systematically taking over their brains. My sister was bitten by an 'Infected' and I couldn't save her. She was the only thing I had left to fight for, and I lost her. Now I'm all alone in this world that's been shot to hell.
1. Prologue

"Daisy! C'mon where are you?" I called out over the crowds noise.

"Where's mommy and daddy Lena?" A small child grabbed onto my jeans and looked up at me with my own lime green eyes. I could never let her down.

"It's okay Dais they're probably just waiting for us outside the quarantine zone. Don't worry, we'll go there now." I grabbed her hand and hoisted her up onto my shoulder like I used to, before. She clung onto my neck as we waded through the crowds and past the secret exit point my Aunt Tess had told me about.

The smell of fresh air was overwhelming on my nose. Unlike inside the city, past the wall the buildings were covered in creepers and other plants. In the battle of concrete vs nature, nature had kicked ass. I put Daisy down to secure the path from which we had come. I turned around and Daisy had wondered off, not unusual for her but outside the wall danger lurked behind every corner. I grabbed my pistol from its holster and made sure it was loaded. Two bullets left, gotta make them count.

I made my way around some buildings with my pistol close to my chest.

"Daisy!" I whispered "no more hide and seek!" As I rounded a corner I saw Daisy following a butterfly into a garden shed and a foul smell invaded my nose - infected.

"Daisy stop!" I screamed at the top of my lungs not caring about being quiet anymore. But it was too late the infected let loose a blood curdling scream that was more animal than human and launched towards my baby sister. I raised my gun and shot the two remaining bullets out of the barrel and directly into the monster, but that was after it had bitten the side of my sister's neck and clawed her open pretty bad.

My blood went cold. The infected fell to the ground, dead and I dropped my pistol and ran towards my sister. I fell to my knees by her side, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Dais?" I sobbed. " I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. Mom and Dad loved you and so did I. I should have left you in the city. I should have never let this happen I'm so sorry." She looked up at me, her eyes squinting, her breathing ragged and her little strawberry blonde curls drenched in sweat and her own blood.

"Don't cry Lena." She whispered. "You're not as pretty when you're face is all red. I love you guys too. I don't blame you for this or for anything. Thank you for showing me outside the gate and here." She reached into her pocket and took out a necklace with a little Daisy flower charm on the end of it.

"You have this." She whispered, her words slurring together. "I'll say hi to mommy and daddy for you. I love you Elena."

"I love you too Daisy." Her little body went limp and her eyes closed forever.


	2. New Beginnings

I hold my arrow steady, beads of sweat running down my neck. I let it fly and the satisfying crunch followed by a gurgle signified that my arrow had hit it's mark, burying itself deep in the infected's neck. A small but welcome victory. As I waltz over to collect my unbroken arrow a rustle in a nearby berry bush makes my heart burst through my chest. A boy runs out into the clearing, snatches my arrow and runs off. My quiver's only got 5 arrows in it as it is and I will not allow one of them to be stolen by a punk like that. So naturally I chase after the boy but still leave a small distance so he doesn't turn on me. The brush in the snow covered forest gets thicker and the branches start cutting my arms and whipping at my face. The boys wearing a grey hoodie which makes me determined to keep up because in the fading Winter light the grey blends in with the rest of the world. I push my legs faster and harder and suddenly the grey blob stops and I mirror him. An eerie silence fills the air and I shrink myself tightly into a ball, the snow melting as my bare knees touch it through my ripped jeans. A twig behind me snaps and I know suddenly that I'm in deep shit. A giant grizzly stands up on its hind legs and, towering over me, stares down at me with big black eyes. He seemed to look past me for a split second as my arrow landed in its shoulder. "Run!" I heard a voice yell behind me, so I did what the voice commanded me and I darted towards the direction the boy had been going. The forest began to thin out again and I caught glimpses of the bear furiously running after me. Suddenly the earth gave way to a sheer drop with a body of water below. The boy stood on the edge and looked at me. He had deep grey eyes to match his jumper, flushed cheeks from the chase and sweat beading at the tips of his dark brown hair. He outstretched his hand to me signalling that he wanted to jump, in other circumstances I wouldn't have, but I reached out and clasped his hand for dear life. The bear was coming ever closer as the boy counted to three. "One." He whispered as the bear made it out into the clearing. "Two." He closed his eyes and I started panicking because the bear was seconds away from tearing us to shreds. "Three!" I screamed as I dragged us over the edge just as the bear reached the place we had been standing seconds earlier. With a small splash we landed in the freezing pond, breaking the grip I had on his hand.

Gasping for air, my face broke through the paper thin layer of ice covering the pond. I looked around for my rescuer but I couldn't see him anywhere until a rope splashed next to me. I turned around and the boy had the other end.  
"Grab on" he commanded and I couldn't refuse, my hands and feet felt non existent. As soon as he started pulling, my body lazily drifted along the surface of the water. When I reached the bank he offered his hand and for the second time today, against my better judgement I took it. He hauled me up as if I weighed nothing at all, not that I'm that tall or anything but the weight of my waterlogged clothes and backpack must have added something. A roar erupted from above as we both looked up and saw the pissed off bear that was staring down at us from where we had been moments before.  
"So wh-where t-to n-now" I spat out as well as I could with my chattering teeth making my head hurt.  
"Anywhere with some kind of shelter before night falls and the infected come out to play." He replied looking up at the bright sinking ball in the sky. He grabbed the rope and started to roll it up as we began our trek.

We had been walking for what seemed like hours in complete silence when we reached an abandoned shanty town. It looked as though it had been beautiful once...before. Vines and creepers wound themselves up the sturdy structures and the world was alive with the sounds of insects buzzing around us. The sun was setting and little fireflies had come out and lit up the world. I grabbed a small jar with a hole in it from my bag and captured some of the fireflies creating a portable light. Mr no name looked at me tilting his head slightly with a small amused smile spreading across his features. He lead on and I followed until he selected a house and we crawled in the window locking it as we entered. He held up his hand signalling me to stay put as he checked the house. A couple of minutes passed and an "all clear" echoed through the house. I put my still damp bag on the kitchen counter and started looking in the cupboards for supplies and managed to find some granola bars and a can with no label, probably beans or some sort of fruit. I grabbed it all and headed upstairs to where the boy went. I spotted him in the bathroom with what looked to be a first aid kit. I walked past him and found a room with a mattress and a boarded up window in it and set up camp. One of the boards was loose so I moved it slightly as a lookout hole and was startled by how lit up the place was, not just because of the fireflies but outside the sun had gone down and in its place was a full moon casting shadows as it rose between the trees. The whole town was still and silent...for now.

Footsteps behind me caused me to turn and I was startled by what I was greeted with. The boy had found a whole heap of supplies including a hair brush, a bottle of water, a first aid kit and a couple of blankets. It was a nice find. He sat down on the mattress next to me causing it to squeak and shift and I uncovered my light source and my loot. He grabbed a granola bar and started munching.  
"Anything interesting going on outside?" his question muffled through hasty bites.  
"Not that I saw but it's bright enough to see everything." I proved by covering the jar and moving the wood slightly letting rays of moonlight filter through dust particles.  
"Hey you only have your bow and arrows right?" he questioned as he rifled through his bag and produced a fishing knife. He held it out and I jumped back against the wall.  
"Easy, I wasn't going to hurt you. I just thought you might want a weapon you can use for close targets too."  
"What's the catch?" I asked eying the knife warily.  
"No catch, I've already got a couple more and you're a ranger, meaning you can't defend yourself in close quarters."  
"Um thanks. Sorry about that I just haven't had someone to trust in a long time." I apologised attaching the knife sheath to my waist.  
"Trust me, I know what you mean, last person I trusted gave me this." He said as he turned around and pulled up the back of his shirt revealing a large jagged scar from his shoulder to the small of his back. In a moment of awe I reached out and ran my fingers down it and he shrunk away from my touch.  
"I'm sorry I just... I've got one to match." I whispered lifting up the back of my jumper revealing a smaller scar running from behind my ear to the bottom of my opposite shoulder blade. We looked at each other for a moment and some sort of silent apology was made. He laid down on the mattress grabbing a blanket and tossing one to me. I followed suit and laid on the other side of the mattress.  
"Name's Noah by the way." He mumbled.  
"Elena." I yawned back. A few minutes later a heard a small whistle meaning sleep took him and I was alone in the silence. He shifted on the mattress and as I turned around to see why he was moving his arm reached out and snaked around my waist pulling me towards him until I was shielded by his body. I was about to protest until I realised how nice it felt to be held and to finally feel safe. I decided against it and closed my heavy eyelids enjoying the feeling of not being alone.


	3. Forming bonds

I woke to a human scream outside, poor bastards. I didn't know who the scream belonged to, I was just glad that it wasn't me. I looked down to find a bundle of strawberry blonde curls tucked tightly next to me and warm breath going through my jumper onto my chest. Elena, still fast asleep had somehow managed to end up in my arms which was perfectly fine with me except I had to check out the house to make sure it was secure. Slowly shoving my blanket in between us I slipped out into the cold morning air. It was the perfect time between dawn and sunrise when the world was mostly still asleep. I wondered slowly downstairs and peeked out the window to find a bunch of infected spread out around the lawn and the surrounding houses. Our escape route was closed off. I moved away from the window and turned around to find a door that lead downstairs to what seemed to be a basement of some sort. I opened the door to complete darkness until I found an oil lamp with matches nearby, an excellent and extremely useful find. I only use one match so as to preserve as many as possible and as I light the lamp the small dusty room comes to life. Rows and rows of bookshelves lined the walls with all different coloured spines sticking out. I couldn't read very well because the virus had wiped out most of the books before I was born so I didn't have much of a chance. I'd have to ask Elena later if she could read and if she could, then maybe she could teach me. I continued on deeper into the room finding buckets and other household items. In one corner there was a sheet covering something huge. I reached over and pulled it off. Underneath the sheet was a massive car that looked more like a small truck. I popped the hood and saw the engine looked to be in good condition and if had almost a full tank of petrol. That was our new way out.

"Elena?" I called out running up the stairs trying to hide my giddiness.  
"I found heaps of stuff in this basement thingy and maybe even something that'll get us out." I reached the bedroom to find it empty. Elena and all of her stuff was gone. Crap, I thought she'd hang around considering how I saved her ass yesterday. I heard a thump downstairs and froze. There was an infected in the house. I grabbed my knives and without making a sound snuck down the stairs towards the noise. A figure was creating shadows in front of my lamp in the basement. I jumped down the flight of stairs and held the figure at knifepoint. Elena was at the end of my blade.  
"Put that thing down before you hurt yourself with it." She mumbled while lightly pushing the tip of the knife down with her finger.  
"You're not gone." I could barely believe my eyes. "Yeah, well, I figured you needed a ranger, plus it would be nice to have some company." She talked, her eyes following her hand as she traced the book spines.  
"Pretty cool find huh? Can you read?" I asked taking another look around.  
"Yeah." She whispered sounding lost and small. "I used to read to my little sister Daisy, after our parents died. She'd wake up in the middle of the night and call out for them, she didn't want to believe me. In the end I'd say that they had just gone away for a while and they'd come back for us. It killed me to lie to her but in the end I desperately wanted to believe it myself." She looked down, her eyes glistening and glazed over. I stepped towards her and engulfed her in my arms. We stood there for a minute in complete silence until her body started shaking. We sunk down to the ground together and stayed there until she stopped.

She lifted her head up and looked towards the car. "Does it work?" She whispered.  
"Don't know, there are infected everywhere and if I try and start it up they'll try and get into the house." I looked down at her and gave her a small smile. She snuggled deeper into my chest and I slowed my breathing to match hers. Her hand seemed to go almost instinctively to her neck like i'd seen her do before.  
"Whatcha got there?" I asked looking down. She looked up at me like she'd been caught red handed doing something she shouldn't have.  
"A locket my sister gave me." She pulled out the small Daisy charm on a leather string.  
"Did it mean anything in particular?" I questioned tilting my head slightly to see it better. "No." She whispered, immediately looking remorseful like she had said it more harshly than she meant to.  
"anyway we better gather up all our crap and get ready to take out the infected from the yard." She said standing up and leaving me alone in the basement.

Elena took out the rest of the infected stealthily with her arrows as I fired up the car. She slowly opened the garage door and ran back to throw her bag in the back seat. I'd only driven a car a few times and luckily my dad had made me practice in the stick shift when the virus was just starting it's life. I sped out of the Garage not looking back and made it onto what looked like an old highway.  
"Why don't you have a rest? You look tired." I asked Elena as she looked out the window while we sped along what used to be the highway.  
"Nah I'm fine, I'm not even tired" she said back as she yawned. 10 minutes later her head was resting on a blanket and I was alone with my thoughts again.


End file.
